Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance walk the streets of Seattle, and feel at home. Dinah asks whether Oliver thinks of Shado anymore, after she saved his life. Oliver lies several times, hiding his feelings about choosing to kill the man who tortured Dinah. However, he is truly unrepentant about having killed the man. Later that night, Oliver dreams about the event, realizing that he can never go back to the way he was before making the choice to kill.
In Japan, Shado explains to the Yakuza Obayun that she had allowed Oliver to kill one of her targets because his vengeance was more important than theirs. As punishment, the Obayun forces her to fire an arrow at a target placed around the neck of her mentor. Despite her feelings, she fires her arrow, and hits the target perfectly, sparing her mentor's life. Regardless of her success, the Obayun demands recompense in the form of Shado's thumb, which she is to cut off herself.
Before she can cut off her thumb, Shado's mentor aims an arrow at the Obayun. This allows Shado to escape. After she has left, the Obayun shoots the mentor dead with a pistol. Moments later, one of Shado's arrows pierces right through his skull. She leaves, free at last.

Notes

Cover art: drawn from colour sketch by Hannigan. Hannigan points out that it is based on a Japanese painted screen from the Edo period.[1]